Thursday, May 20, 2010

Have you noticed the seasons changing in the last few days? Yup. We are officially in the 5th season of the year - the political season! Tuesday was election day in a handful of states and June 8th is the primary election in California. Time to stop answering the phone, toss the daily flyers in the trash, and hit the mute button during tv commercials.

Robocalls - sounds like a 4-letter-word to me. The first time Arnold S. left a voice message on my phone during his campaign eight years ago, I thought it was really cool. I also loved hearing Bill Clinton's voice - then Hillary's. The glamour has worn off, however, and I now dread answering the phone during the days leading up to next month's primary election.

I've had calls from Steve Poizner, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Dick Cheney, and countless lesser known politicians hoping to garner my vote. Then there are the local school board members, judges, firefighters, policemen. Now, I am very interested in how local school board members, judges, firefighters, and policemen do their jobs. I am not, however, interested in their politics.

I am also not interested in voting for someone who could not take the time to vote during the last few decades, i.e., both Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina. You can vote by mail, ladies. It doesn't take a lot of time. I'm pretty sure these corporate giants had a handful of personal assistants during their years at Ebay and Hewlett-Packard respectively. I'm also pretty confident that these PAs prepared issue papers for the boss. How about an issue paper on elections? Then the boss would only have to read the paper, reach for the mail-in ballot, fill it in over the daily cup of Starbucks, and give it back to the PA to mail. This process, of course, assumes interest in the political system and the future of our state and country.

Apparently, Ms. Whitman and Ms. Fiorina believe voters will overlook their voting "history" because of their corporate "history." Not this voter.

Steve Poizner has reportedly spent $22 million of his own money on the campaign - so far. Meg Whitman's total is reported to be $68 million. That is not a typo - $68 million. That is an obscene amount of money to spend on robocalls!

There are countless more worthwhile ways that money such as that could be spent.

Here's a scenario for you. Imagine gathering 6 petroleum engineers and telling them they have 6 months to design a failsafe mechanism for off-shore drilling platforms that would eliminate the possibility of a disaster such as we are seeing today in the Gulf of Mexico. We give them $10 million for expenses during the 6 months, probably more than they would need. Then we tell them that we will pay them each $13.33 million dollars at the end of the 6 months if they are successful. I think we have a winning proposition here!

Don't insult me by running for office just because you can afford to run. Don't ask for my vote in your re-election campaign unless you have earned my respect by actually doing your job, doing it well, and have only been in the headlines for your accomplishments, not your misdeeds.

Don't call me. I really don't want to listen to you. I want you to do your job. I'll read about your successes and failures in the newspaper, online, or hear about it on NPR.

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About Me

I'm a 60-something retired administrative assistant. I spent my career in public education. I've been married for 40 years to my husband, Doug; we have two children and 3 grandchildren who are definitely the cutest and brightest little ones in the universe! My passions are sewing, quilting, machine embroidery, reading, and those 3 little ones.